The theory of social contract, which appeared in the era of the philosophy of enlightenment, suggests that such a social mechanism as a state was preceded by a natural state of man. The leading philosophers of that time, Hobbes, Rousseau and others, considered unlimited personal freedom to be natural, but some of them believed that this freedom was opposed to the will of those around them, and others that it was the basis of a peaceful primitive society.
The theory of the social contract of Hobbes and other philosophers of enlightenment also implies that the emergence of the state was the result of a legal act - in fact, the most natural contract, which is a consequence of the will of people who decided to come up with this mechanism for the convenience of living together and better freedom. Revolutionary enough for that time was the idea that the monarch’s power does not come from God, but from the people, and that his main task should be, first of all, to protect the freedoms of citizens. This idea is most fully expressed in the works of Paul Holbach. According to his writings, the idea of the sacred will and the right of the monarch only served as an excuse for gaining uncontrolled power and the arbitrariness of power. That is, part of the society took advantage of its privileged position and violated the natural contract. Using the principle of “divide and conquer”, the monarchs sowed discord among citizens in order to become absolute rulers. The monarch’s whim was elevated to the rule of law, and they themselves perverted the natural right of people, changing their minds and sowing seeds of immorality. His ideas found the support of many enlightenment philosophers of that time, and, first of all, A. Radishchev, according to whom the state was created not at the whim of the monarch, but for more effective protection of the rights of the oppressed.
Locke's theory of the social contract argued that any peaceful creation of the state was the reason for the agreement of citizens among themselves, and therefore this should be the only principle of the creation of the state.
But the most vivid definition of the concept of "theory of social contract" was given by the philosopher Rousseau. In his opinion, the main task of a social contract is to find such a form of union between people, thanks to which everyone, connecting with everyone, is subject only to himself and remains personally free. An ideal state according to Rousseau is one in the power of which citizens voluntarily give part of their freedoms to achieve the public good. Thus, people are no longer a person, but a kind of community - a legal entity (it was also called the republic and civil society). Fair laws play a big role in this society. According to Rousseau, the most desirable is a system of direct reliable government. Only the mass of the people can pass laws restricting freedom for a common purpose, and no sovereign has the right to violate them. The social contract theory also says that people have the right to resist tyrants restricting their legal rights, and the idea of the divine unlimited right of the monarch is nothing more than the desire of a power-hungry unscrupulous monarch. This idea was truly revolutionary for that time.
Rousseau argued that the sovereign’s power, based on the love of citizens for him, was good, but only conditional and could not be the reason for his special rights. In addition, any sovereign in the quest for power will seek to weaken the people, so that he could not resist him and limit his power and his own benefit will always be in the first place for him.
The theory of social contract formed the basis of many ideologies of the advanced states of the New Age - the United States of America, the French Republic, and was enshrined in their constitutions.